Played a number of games over the last 6 months, mostly with intermediate players, mostly as Soviet, thought I was doing well, then played Sapper who showed me the errors of my ways in our VERY brief game.

Adjusted tactics and strategy since then, lets see how well they work against another veteran, Pelton:

Turn one I disband a lot of things, Fortress that are not needed, Air Commands, some SAD bases, some Army Corps for CC purposes, then just build Sappers with the remaining admin points, not many admin points left on T1 though.

T2+ Carry on with the same but more building and less disbanding each turn.

You should start building RR units. All armies must have 2, boosting the fort building. You have 10 at start, so would be wise to send them to the most important sectors. And around Pskov, the 3 swamp hex is the most usefull defending zone, what real slow the german advance. Best terrain against panzers.

You should start building RR units. All armies must have 2, boosting the fort building. You have 10 at start, so would be wise to send them to the most important sectors. And around Pskov, the 3 swamp hex is the most usefull defending zone, what real slow the german advance. Best terrain against panzers.

Once I can can work out how to get better photos up, I will carry on with posts and my turn notes, as far forward as the photos don't give things away.

Of the initial RR units, I think 8 not 10, 2 RR units went to the land bridge, 6 RR to the Pskov area.

Personally I prefer sapper regiments, they have a better construction value, plus can fight.

It should be noted that the 8 RR units you start the game with, the TOE is just 90%, I reset the TOE to 100 on T1.

My guess is that Pelton is going to make you pay for this strategy. In the south, I think you either put up a solid line at the pre-war border forts or completely pull back to the Dnepr. Setting up the checker board in my opinion will just result in lots more units getting swallowed up during a time when he has to move anyway. So giving him free units while he's covering ground he needs to cover to me isn't the way to go. I prefer a solid line or complete withdrawal (most likely withdrawal as the Lvov pocket is sealed meaning you probably don't have the strength for a solid line). I can't see the CVof the units, but I also would have been tempted to break at least one of the encirclements.

Same comments from the North. I think you're just giving away free units that he can take when covering ground he needs to cover anyway.....

My guess is that Pelton is going to pay for this strategy. In the south, I think you either put up a solid line at the pre-war border forts or completely pull back to the Dnepr. Setting up the checker board in my opinion will just result in lots more units getting swallowed up during a time when he has to move anyway. So giving him free units while he's covering ground he needs to cover to me isn't the way to go. I prefer a solid line or complete withdrawal (most likely withdrawal as the Lvov pocket is sealed meaning you probably don't have the strength for a solid line). I can't see the CVof the units, but I also would have been tempted to break at least one of the encirclements.

Same comments from the North. I think you're just giving away free units that he can take when covering ground he needs to cover anyway.....

Will be curious to see Pelton's next turn.

In the North, I don't think he will encircle the skirmish line, as that will stop him pushing on Pskov, he will push them out of the way.

In the Center maybe he will encircle the odd unit, but otherwise same as North.

In the South, yes some will get circled for sure, even if you had the units available, I don't think its wise to build a solid wall yet.

As to breaking pockets, most of the time I can in the South on T1, but not possible in this game, breaking pockets is always the first thing I look at.

The Panzer thrust did no go in the direction I was expecting, towards D-Town, but towards Kiev.

So I railed some of my best Arm that were resting around D-Town and building fortifications there, to the Denep South of Kiev.

Kiev has limited fortifications, possibly why pelton went in that direction.

OR

For the units that were left to far forward after the failed Counter attack on T3, leaving more units to be pocked, Pelton first largish pocket with about 100,000 men in it, I doubt it will be the last.

M60A, do you think the Soviets in AGC have set up D-line too far west of Smolensk ??? The clear terrain to it's east makes it very vulnerable to encirclement.

Also in AGS Pelton has roughly 11-12 divs of both infantry and armor/mech units abutting the Kiev/Dnper line. It looks like Huw Jones efforts in building a visually impressive checkerboard setup has led him to neglect any Dnper D-line. I see no real fort line or units with MP's to provide reserve activation. Would you be very nervous if you were Stalin and he your Zhukov ??? I bet you would place his family in "political" custody. Watch Pelton crash thru. He also has another 3 Pz units 6-8 hexes away.

@ Hitman: Huw looks pretty good. Pelton cut Das Reich lose from Guderian's 46th Pz Kps and sent it south. But I'd qualify that by saying we can't see from the screenies what the Dnepr bend defense looks like.

Not sure what to make of using all these military districts as pseudo fronts but it is an interesting approach. It does seem there are too many airbases south. The VVS can get some real experience flying in the Leningrad area and aren't subject to moving as much as their counterparts in the south where moving east with regularity can be problematic.